Today marks the midpoint between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. Astronomically, it looks like this:
More importantly, it means that the promise of the returning light made at Winter Solstice is being fulfilled.
On December 21, sunrise (near where I live) was 7:15am and sunset was 4:22pm.
Today, February 2nd, sunrise was 7:02am and sunset will be at 5:06pm: a gain of 13 minutes in the morning and 44 minutes at night … a total of 57 minutes. Over the next two days, we add another 6 minutes making it more than a full hour of additional sunlight since Winter Solstice.
Of course, that is the sciencey stuff. We know that there is more to it than that.